Effect of calcination condition on properties of nano-TiO2/expanded perlite composite materials

With expanded perlite as carrier and TiOSO4 as precursor, the nano-TiO2/expanded perlite composite material was prepared by homogeneous precipitation method. The crystalline structure of TiO2, surface property and morphology of the composite material were characterized by XRD, SEM and FT-IR. The effects of calcination temperature and calcination time on the crystallization of TiO2 and photocatalytic activity were discussed. The results show that composite material with calcination temperature 550 and calcination time 2 h has the best photocatalytic activity, achieving the degradation rate of Rhodamine-B over 95%. At this time, the crystal of TiO2 is anatase, and the crystal size is 11.93 nm. The composite material possesses good regeneration property, showing high photocatalytic activity after 5 recycling times.